Journal of psychopharmacology
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Apr 2016
Up: The rise of nitrous oxide abuse. An international survey of contemporary nitrous oxide use.
In recent years the recreational use of inhaled nitrous oxide gas (N2O) is becoming increasingly popular, yet little is known about the characteristics of its users or the effects they experience. This paper presents original research from the 2014 Global Drug Survey (GDS) (n=74,864). GDS runs the largest survey of recreational drug use in the world. ⋯ Accidental injury is associated with the highest number of 'hits' per session, suggesting a dose-response relationship. The presence of significant harm is discussed in the light of public education on the risks of N2O use and harm-reduction strategies appropriate to N2O use. Further work needs to be completed to confirm the presence of persistent neurological symptoms in recreational users.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Feb 2016
Chronic pain causes a persistent anxiety state leading to increased ethanol intake in CD1 mice.
Mood disorders and chronic pain are closely linked, but limited progress has been made in understanding the role of chronic and neuropathic pain in the aetiopathogenesis of depression. To explore the pathological mechanisms that mediate the association between pain and depressive-like behaviours, we studied the time-dependent effect of neuropathic pain on the development of anxiety-like and despair behaviours in CD1 mice. We analysed behavioural data, neuroinflammation reactions and changes in neurotransmitter (glutamate and serotonin) levels in the mouse prefrontal cortex. ⋯ We found no change in serotonin metabolism, cytokine IL-6 or brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. While sciatic-operated mice exposed to intermittent ethanol intake (20% v/v) using the drinking in the dark procedure consumed higher amounts of ethanol than sham-operated mice, thermal allodynia and despair behaviour were not attenuated by ethanol consumption. Our findings reveal an association between glutamatergic neurotransmission and pain-induced mood disorders, and indicate that moderate ethanol consumption does not relieve nociceptive and depressive behaviours associated with chronic pain in mice.
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Erratum for Psychomotor effects, pharmacokinetics and safety of the orexin receptor antagonist suvorexant administered in combination with alcohol in healthy subjects by Hong Sun, Ka Lai Yee, Sean Gill, Wen Liu, Xiaodong Li, Deborah Panebianco, Eric Mangin, Dennis Morrison, Jacqueline McCrea, John A Wagner, and Matthew D Troyer. J Psychopharmacol November 2015 29: 1159-1169, first published on October 13, 2015 doi:10.1177/0269881115609015In the print issue of the journal, on page1165 of the article, panels (c) and (d) of Figure 1 are duplicates. The references (contained in the results section of the publication, page 1164) to Figure 1 are incorrect. Please refer to the online version for the corrected version.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Oct 2015
Differentiated effects of the multimodal antidepressant vortioxetine on sleep architecture: Part 2, pharmacological interactions in rodents suggest a role of serotonin-3 receptor antagonism.
Antidepressants often disrupt sleep. Vortioxetine, a multimodal antidepressant acting through serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT) inhibition, 5-HT3, 5-HT7 and 5-HT1D receptor antagonism, 5-HT1B receptor partial agonism, and 5-HT1A receptor agonism, had fewer incidences of sleep-related adverse events reported in depressed patients. In the accompanying paper a polysomnographic electroencephalography (sleep-EEG) study of vortioxetine and paroxetine in healthy subjects indicated that at low/intermediate levels of SERT occupancy, vortioxetine affected rapid eye movement (REM) sleep differently than paroxetine. ⋯ Next, we investigated the role of 5-HT3 receptors in eliciting these differences. The 5-HT3 receptor antagonist ondansetron significantly reduced paroxetine's acute effects on ROL, while the 5-HT3 receptor agonist SR57227A significantly increased vortioxetine's acute effect on ROL. Overall, our data are consistent with the clinical findings that vortioxetine impacts REM sleep differently than paroxetine, and suggests a role for 5-HT3 receptor antagonism in mitigating these differences.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Jul 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyRandomised clinical trial of the effects of prolonged-release melatonin, temazepam and zolpidem on slow-wave activity during sleep in healthy people.
Current pharmacological treatments for insomnia include benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics targeting γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptors, as well as agonists of the melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2. Melatonin, temazepam and zolpidem are thought to exert their effect through different mechanisms of action, but whether this leads to differential effects on electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectra during sleep in middle-aged people is currently not known. To establish whether the effects of prolonged-release melatonin (2 mg) on the nocturnal sleep EEG are different to those of temazepam (20 mg) and zolpidem (10 mg). ⋯ Temazepam significantly reduced SWA compared with prolonged-release melatonin. Prolonged-release melatonin only reduced SWA during the first third of the night compared with placebo. These data show that the effects of prolonged-release melatonin on the nocturnal sleep EEG are minor and are different from those of temazepam and zolpidem; this is likely due to the different mechanisms of action of the medications.